Late Lead Is Not Enough for Angels

What percentage of this game is pitching?

The Angels--their not-so-mighty ducks all in a row--neatly strung together a bad start by their starter, some mediocre middle relief and a lack of closure by their closer Tuesday night, once again proving that no amount of aggressive base-running, clutch hitting or scrappy, never-say-die attitude can overcome poor pitching.

The Angels stole three bases, overcame a 3-0 first-inning deficit and got a solo homer from Gary DiSarcina in the seventh to propel them into the lead. But Toronto scored twice in the ninth to pull out a 7-6 victory in front of 13,353 at Anaheim Stadium.

Starter Allen Watson threw 28 pitches in the first inning and returned to the dugout trailing by three runs. He settled down after the shaky start, however, and left after six innings with a 5-4 lead.

That advantage quickly disappeared when Alex Gonzalez greeted reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa with a line-drive home run that caromed off the left-field foul pole in the seventh. But DiSarcina’s homer put the Angels back in front . . . for awhile.

Mike James, moved into the closer role with Troy Percival out of action because of a nerve problem in his shoulder, gave up a single to pinch-hitter Carlos Delgado leading off the ninth. Charlie O’Brien sacrificed and pinch- hitter Shawn Green flied to the warning track in center to advance Delgado to third. Otis Nixon drew a walk and stole second before Carlos Garcia slapped a high bouncer up the middle into center field to score both runners.

“That’s where you want to be, with your closer in there in the ninth with a one-run lead,” Manager Terry Collins said. “I think the percentages are with you in that situation. And Mike’s been throwing great too. [Garcia] just hit one of those balls that gets through.

“We got to the position you want to be in. We got the big hit by Gary to give us the lead. We’re swinging the bats well and we pitched OK. This was a tough one to lose.”

Collins has been reassuring anyone who’ll listen that the American League has yet to meet the real Allen Watson, who Collins is sure will become a stalwart of the starting rotation. When the left-hander lasted six innings last Wednesday in Minnesota, giving up six hits and three runs, Collins viewed it as the start of something big. “If he gives us another outing like that, then we’ll be in good shape,” Collins said before Tuesday night’s game.

Watson gave them a scare in the first, and then gave them another outing almost exactly like his last--six innings, six hits and four runs.

The game’s first batter, Nixon, beat out a grounder to second, stole second and scored when Garcia shot a double down the right-field line. Garcia advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Joe Carter’s 390-foot sacrifice fly to center. Ed Sprague lined a single to left and scored when Jacob Brumfield doubled to left.

“It wasn’t like I was giving up rockets and I knew I had good stuff,” Watson said.

In a strange twist of anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better, Blue Jay starter Erik Hanson needed “only” 24 pitches to help the Angels to erase the three- run deficit in the bottom of the first.

With one out, he walked Jim Edmonds and Dave Hollins and then watched a missile off Jim Leyritz’ bat land 422 feet from home in the construction area beyond the left-field fence.

While Watson was finding his rhythm--he retired 11 Blue Jays in a row after O’Brien opened the second with a double and didn’t allow another hit until Sprague hit a solo homer to left in the sixth--Hanson was struggling to deal with the Angels’ new aggressive base-running.

Darin Erstad led off the third with a single to right and promptly stole second. He scored when Hollins singled to right. Hollins quickly stole second and then scored when Tim Salmon’s drive to right-center bounced over the wall.

The Angels, as has been the case so often this season, had to battle out of a hole and this time they climbed to the edge before losing their grip and plummeting back in.